The UN’s Universal Periodic Review

The United Nations (UN) is an international organisation consisting of states from across the world. At the UN, member states discuss, negotiate, and pledge action on issues like climate change, peace, and human rights.

Guaranteeing the implementation of these commitments, however, proves tricky.

The UN’s Human Rights Council manages a process called the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and it takes place every year. Here, member states grade one another’s human rights performance. Each state goes through their UPR in five-year cycles. So a country that went through one in 2020, would next be due one in 2025.

When each state is under review, their civil society organisations and other stakeholders provide information of perceived successes and failures. Fellow states use this information to recommend action in areas which fail to meet international human rights standards.

The state under review then has a choice for each recommendation. They either choose to accept it or “note” it - which is essentially a rejection.

In 2018, during their UPR, one of the recommendations received by France was to “establish cohesive, long-term strategies to provide access to safe drinking water and sanitation for migrants in Calais and in the north of France.” The French government accepted this point, and thus seemed to commit to action.

But according to testimony from refugees and people on the move in Calais, France has failed to improve the situation. In fact, things have gotten worse. Local officials and police in Calais actively impede access to water. A strategy for access has not been implemented since the 2018 UPR recommendation. Instead, a strategy of deterrence and coercion has been introduced.

Zéro point de fixation

A crucial event in Calais came in the form of the 2016 demolition of the “Jungle”. The large, semi-permanent encampment had ignited an international media and political firestorm. Aiming to stop the re-development of a similar camp, the French authorities established a new goal dubbed zéro point de fixation.

A literal translation for the policy is “zero points of fixation.” Exactly as the name suggests, officials aim to limit the size and permanence of refugee encampments.

Put into practice, the policy has meant regular mass evictions of camps, as often as every 36-48 hours. During these evictions, refugees’ tents and belongings are often vandalised, confiscated, or destroyed by the police. In some locations, the police raze the ground and remove forest cover to deter people from returning.

UN experts warned French officials about the dangers posed by the demolitions of living sites without offering viable housing alternatives. Observers noted that the new strategy would not solve the “inhumane and substandard conditions suffered by migrants.” Nevertheless, France has continued its campaign of evictions.

UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing Leilani Farha claimed in a report that zéro point de fixation has resulted in “gross violations…of the right to health, food, and to physical integrity.” Pointing to the restricted access to essential services and constant evictions, Farha wrote that means used to implement the policy “constitute…degrading treatment of one of the most vulnerable populations in France.”

In addition to evictions, the municipal authorities prevent communal living areas from developing by restricting food and water access. France’s national human rights bodies reported that “state distributions [of food and water] are insufficient” for the refugee population in Calais.

Working together in the shadow of the state’s absence, local NGOs try to fill the gaps. They attempt to cover the daily water needs of refugees and people on the move and provide the essential services that are so lacking. Officials have recognised that without the services of these organisations, basic needs would go unmet.

Severely limited access to water forces people on the move to choose between their basic needs. Water for drinking or cooking may need to be used to bathe or wash clothes, as seen in this living site where residents were drying their clothes on the bushes.

A betrayal of human rights

As local NGOs attempt to bridge the substantial gaps left by the French government, police and local officials actively undermine their operations.

In September 2020, the Calais prefecture effectively banned food and water distributions by heavily fining non-compliant organisations. Only one association, La Vie Active, operated with state approval. Its distributions proved to be “quantitatively insufficient” according to a government commissioner.

With such unreliable and insufficient access to basic items and services, people on the move in Calais have come to expect suffering. Sami, a man from Sudan, has been in Calais for three years. When asked if water access has improved during his time here, he noted “nothing has changed. It’s getting worse.”

France has failed to uphold its 2018 UPR commitment, and in doing so, it has denied refugees and people on the move the most basic and essential needs. This failure was not a question of inaction. The state has designed policy and devoted resources to make the lives of displaced people in Calais a daily struggle.

In early 2023, France was again the subject of a Universal Periodic Review. Once more, the state received criticism for failing to meet the basic water and sanitation needs of people on the move.

France’s response to this criticism and the accompanying recommendations is expected soon. But even if they were to accept - as they did in 2018 - this is no guarantee that the situation will improve.

In partnership with a number of other NGOs, Collective Aid calls on the French government to accept these recommendations, end the zéro point de fixation policy, and provide adequate access to water for all.

To join our campaign to ensure #WaterForAll, sign the petition today.

Zéro point de fixation: How denying water to refugees is a French government policy